


From a Distance

by loving-the-stars-themselves (youandmeotp)



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1920s, Alternate Universe - Historical, F/M, Fluff, Inspired by The Great Gatsby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-20 15:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13149228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youandmeotp/pseuds/loving-the-stars-themselves
Summary: It's the 1920s, and the Doctor, Amy, and Rory are just normal people at a fancy party. At this party, the Doctor spies a beautiful woman with the curliest of hair: River Song. Will he work up the courage to talk to her?





	From a Distance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ale_Song](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ale_Song/gifts).



> For Alessandra: Merry Christmas! For the River Song Secret Santa, I have written you this little Eleven x River fic. It takes place very vaguely in the setting of The Great Gatsby, which was about as much history as I could manage, lol. I hope you enjoy Eleven being an absolute dork in front of our beautiful and treasured River.
> 
> PS: I may also write a New Year's themed River fic soon so keep an eye out :)
> 
> Update: The Thirteen x River New Year's fic can be found [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13262376)!

He’d been admiring her from a distance all night. Even with the party raging around them, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Everyone was dancing, jazz band playing swinging tunes that all seemed to blend into one another. The Doctor was fully aware that the festivities extended far beyond the grand front doors, but right now he didn’t want to be at the center of the action. It was exactly the kind of party he’d normally love to attend with his best mates, and they kept trying to drag him onto the dancefloor, but he couldn’t bring himself to let loose like it was just any other night.

“Come  _ on,  _ Doctor, what’s the matter?” Amy groaned, tugging at his sleeve. The Doctor only leaned back against the bar in resistance. 

“Don’t think we haven’t noticed you haven’t been yourself all night,” Rory chimed in. “We have.” The Doctor wanted to laugh at this, since Rory’s eyes were full of genuine concern, but he had to yell to be heard over the racket of the party. But the laugh got stuck in his throat.

Amy raised her eyebrows expectantly at the Doctor, expecting some sort of response, but receiving only his dazed expression, staring off into the distance. Narrowing her eyes, she followed his line of sight until she discovered what he was looking at. “Oh my god,” she said slowly. “It’s a girl, isn’t it? Oh my god, Rory, it’s a girl.” She bounced up and down excitedly on her heels, causing the fringe on her dress to swish around her.

Rory leaned in towards the two of them to match up with their viewpoint. He nodded. “Yep, yep, definitely a girl.”

Amy grabbed the Doctor by the shoulders. “This is monumental!” she exclaimed, shaking him back and forth. “You know, I really never thought you’d ever express  _ that kind _ of interest in any other person, ever. But here we are!”

“Oi!” The Doctor popped out of his trance. “I’ll have you know, I’ve had romantic encounters with many a woman in my time.  _ Many. _ Don’t even ask me to count how many, because I don’t think I could tell you. Point is, I am a lady killer. The  _ biggest _ lady killer.”

Rubbing his shoulder and rolling her eyes, Amy replied, “Oookay, Doctor. No need to convince us of anything.” Then, when the Doctor looked away, she and Rory immediately shook their heads vigorously, mouthing to each other,  _ “Don’t believe him. Not for a minute.”  _

The Doctor tracked the woman as she sauntered across the dancefloor, drink in hand, dancing from person to person for never more than a few seconds at a time. The way she moved, she captured the rhythm of the music in a manner he couldn’t even comprehend. It wasn’t any recognizable dance; the Doctor was by no means a dance aficionado, but it didn’t look like anything he’d seen anyone else do before. But he was captivated by it nonetheless. 

Her silver dress hugged her body in all the right places, showing off curves in a way that no other girl’s dress managed to do. And that  _ hair, _ my god, he swore he’d never seen anything like it before. He wanted to get lost in the maze of her endless curls, delving deep into them and resurfacing only when someone pulled him back out. 

Yes, this woman was truly unique. The Doctor was the kind of person who thought everyone was special and everyone was important, so for her to completely drown out the crowd around her was quite a feat. And she managed it. He could see nothing but her, amidst the sea of gyrating bodies, hear nothing but the music coming to life through her.

“Yep, he definitely fancies her,” Amy confirmed to Rory with a smirk. At the same time, she grabbed Rory’s hand, to which he responded with a surprised and pleased smile. 

“Mate, go get her,” Rory told the Doctor. “What do you have to lose?”

The Doctor watched this majestic woman practically glowing with confidence and charm, and he felt as though he would willingly lose everything to her. Just as he was about to turn back to his friends, the woman made eye contact with him. From all the way across the room, the two of them locked eyes, and the Doctor watched her slip something inside the front of her dress. His mouth was suddenly dry.

“Go, go on, go  _ on, _ ” Amy implored him, her Scottish brogue coming out in full force. She began nudging him toward the grand staircase. She eyed Rory, who quickly jumped on board with pushing the Doctor toward his mystery woman. 

The Doctor was flailing his arms and grasping desperately back for safety at the bar, but his Ponds were insistent, and he stood no chance. So he soon found himself at the top of the staircase, looking nervously back at their expectant faces. Amy gave him a nod of reassurance, and Rory offered a fistbump. He was hoping they’d somehow give him the magical woman-wooing powers he needed, and that was definitely not it. But somehow, he felt just a bit stronger than before.

“Catch you later,” he said, with a tip of his hat to his friends. Then, before he knew it, he had descended the stairs and was searching through the throngs of bodies, dodging the swinging arms and kicking legs of the Charleston.  _ Silver dress, silver dress. _ It should have been easy to spot her closer up. Where had she gone?

He just kept pushing through the crowd, steely determination taking over control of his body. After a few minutes of searching, however, he started to lose hope that he’d ever find her. How could she have had such a strong and undeniable presence from upstairs, but simply disappear when he tried to get close? He was convinced she had been a mirage, a figment of imagination. Too good to be true.

But just when he was about to give up and trudge his way, defeated, back up to Amy and Rory, he spotted her. Not by the glint of silver sequins under the bright lights, but by the bounce of that unmistakable curly hair. It was just a fleeting glimpse, but it revitalized his hope, and he made his way toward the band.

There she was. Up close, in the flesh, but facing the opposite direction. Her hips moved to the beat of the music, and the beads on her dress swung back and forth, but he didn’t really need her to bring the music to life anymore, because the  _ trumpets _ were  _ blaring _ in his  _ ears.  _ He couldn’t even hear himself think, but if he could, his thoughts would have gone something like  _ oh god oh god what do I say to her _ and  _ she’s right there but how do I even approach her  _ and  _ yowzah! _ The butterflies in his stomach threatened to surface at any moment.

But before he could even make a plan of action, she turned to him, and the intensity of her gaze pinned him to the spot. “Hello sweetie,” she said, voice like velvet.  _ Sweetie? Was  _ he  _ sweetie? _

He swallowed several times before he found himself able to speak, and at some point his arms had started moving about uncontrollably again. She looked bemused when he finally stilled them and found the words he wanted to say to her. “Hello. Um.”  _ Dammit! _

She stepped closer to him and his heart leapt into his throat. “River Song,” she introduced herself. She gracefully extended a manicured hand, which he accepted. “And you are?”

“The Doctor,” he replied. Seeing the perplexed crook of her eyebrow, he cleared his throat and repeated himself to be heard above the band. “The Doctor!”

“Yes, I heard you the first time. I’ve just never heard a name quite like that before.” 

The Doctor realized he hadn’t let go of her hand, and dropped it suddenly, his own hand falling awkwardly back to his side. “What can I say? I like to stand out.” He paused. “As do you, I see.”

The woman—River Song—cocked her head at him, amused, a twinkle in her eyes that outshone the glimmer of her dress. “Oh, do I?” 

“I haven’t seen anyone but you all night long,” the Doctor admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck and averting his eyes. His face burned with embarrassment, but he couldn’t deny the truth. He felt her lean even closer, or was that just his imagination? His palms were sweaty and he couldn’t dry them off on his pant legs. The longer she didn’t respond to his confession, the more the room started to spin around him.  _ What  _ are  _ all these bodily reactions?  _ he wondered to himself frantically. 

Then she grabbed his hand again, startling him. He looked up in surprise, but just the sight of her eyes instantly calmed him. He’d spent the entire evening agonizing over her, not realizing that being here with her would feel so  _ right _ . “Come on, let’s go outside,” she suggested, jerking her head toward the back door. 

He let her guide him toward the exit, becoming almost giddy with excitement. He’d actually done it! He spotted Amy and Rory on the landing above them and gave them an enthusiastic nod and thumbs up, unable to wipe the grin off his face.

A cool breeze hit his skin, refreshing him the second he stepped out the door. River led him to the edge of this magnificent fountain, where they sat down together. “I’ve heard about you, you know,” she informed him matter-of-factly. 

“About me?” he echoed. “What could you have possibly heard about me?”

“They’re all rumors, mind you, but one can’t help but listen to the whispers.” She moved to pull something out of the front of her dress. A lighter? “Oh, not that, sorry.” She set it aside and delved back down the plunging neckline. The Doctor tried not to watch, but  _ blimey _ , he found himself unable to look anywhere else. He gulped. 

River pulled one another thing out—an ID card which had a picture of her looking very young and bearing the name “Melody”—before finding what she’d been looking for. The Doctor shook his head slowly at her in awe, wondering what else she could have up her sleeve or...other places. “Here it is,” she said, unfolding the piece of paper. 

He noticed that the ink was smudged, and attempted to stop thinking about where the smudge might have occurred.

The sheet of paper was completely covered with writing, swirly black text that the Doctor could hardly read. Her handwriting? He imagined it was. He wanted to learn more and more about her, take in every single little quality and quirk and remember her, even if he never saw her again after tonight. “What is this?” he asked, squinting at the page.

“It’s a page from my diary,” she told him. “I don’t show it to just anybody.”

“Why me?”

“Well, it’s about you, silly! Didn’t I tell you? These are all the notes I have on the elusive man known as ‘the Doctor.’ I’ve always thought the title was quite pretentious, myself, but that’s beside the point.”

River was ready to go on, but the Doctor cut in. “Sorry, what am  _ I  _ doing in your diary? What motive could you possibly have for writing about a person you’ve never even met?” he inquired.

River smiled coyly. “Curiosity,” she answered plainly, and to the Doctor, it was the most enticing word he’d ever heard. “It killed the cat, but it never had a chance against me.” And  _ oh _ did that send something surging through the Doctor’s body. He licked his lips to remoisten them, and River observed intently.

“Anyway,” continued River, glancing down at her paper, “I heard you own that house over there, that enormous blue one across the bay.” They can just see it now, over the dark water, the unlit windows and shadowed facade a sharp contrast to the brightness and palpitating energy on this coast. It towered over the surrounding landscape. “Would that be true?”

The Doctor loved his house; true, it only served as a place to rest from outing to outing, and it wasn’t where he lived most of his life, but it had a special place in his heart. No one paid it much attention, not when houses like this existed just miles away. But River had. “I do,” he told her. “That is, indeed, where I live.”

“I’ve always found it interesting,” River said. “I always thought a house like that must contain an interesting man.” At some point she had placed a hand on his knee. When had that happened?

“We have some time to find out just how ‘interesting’ he may be,” said the Doctor. He didn’t even know what that meant, but he tried to say it in a way that sounded like it implied something. He hoped it worked. “What else do you want to know?”

“There was one particular gap in my research that I was looking to fill.” River peered down again. 

“Yes?” Her hand had edged higher on his leg. She was making him nervous again, but he didn’t flail or squirm about this time. He was intent on staying in the game, showing her he was worthy of her attention, which was so precious. 

“This peculiar ‘Doctor’ that lives in that house...does he have any romantic interests?”

The Doctor yelped, against all his efforts, but where most people would have laughed at him, River did not. She was still staring at him, a mix of analytical and...fond? Maybe he was fooling himself into thinking that, but nevertheless, she refused to give up whatever little game she was playing. She held him in the palm of her hand.

“Um, he is not seeing anyone at the moment, if that’s what you’re asking.”

River’s tongue toyed between her teeth.  _ Oh my.  _ “And...would this Doctor be open to experiencing something of the like?”

At this point the Doctor may have completely stopped breathing, but he was loving every second. River was definitely not looking at her paper anymore. In fact, he didn’t even know where it had gone. He considered the possibility that it had gone back down into her cleavage. Dizzily he thought that, if she needed him to, he could surely retrieve it for her.

The Doctor swallowed and attempted to come back to reality. “Um...I think he— _ I _ —would be extremely open to that possibility.” He swallowed again. 

He barely had the chance to look into her eyes again before she leaned in. Her lips enveloped his in an instant, surrounding him with warmth. The Doctor’s heart was beating double time, but after a moment, he pushed forward to meet her in the kiss. Her hand had made its way all the way up to his hip, and the other one cupped the back of his neck. She nipped at his bottom lip, then smoothed over it with her tongue. This,  _ this _ was a kiss like no other. He had been kissed before, of course, but she seemed to fit better than anyone else. He opened his mouth to let her in, and together their tongues danced around each other more gracefully than the Doctor could ever have managed on the dancefloor.

Before he knew it, River had crawled into his lap, never breaking the kiss for a second. Her hands now both held his cheeks, and her body pressed against him deeply. The space that earlier he’d thought impossible to close was now nonexistent, her silver blending into his black and white. The Doctor didn’t want to ever let go, and he let her push herself further and further into him. 

And then— _ splash! _ The Doctor sputtered for air, River’s weight leaning entirely on his chest. Water quickly seeped into his suit from every possible direction, instantly soaking him to the bone. As River rolled off of him, he could see that she was the same.  _ The fountain,  _ it dawned on him.  _ We’ve fallen into the fountain. _

While he lay there in stunned silence, River began to laugh. Tentatively at first, but quickly morphing into a hearty, euphonious laugh that came straight from the chest. She grabbed his hand to pull him up, but he slipped, which set him off laughing too. Finally, they both made it back out of the water and onto the edge of the fountain, in stitches and holding each other for stability.

When they had both caught their breath, the Doctor finally got the look into her eyes he’d been craving. Now, drenched and shivering, he felt unafraid, uninhibited, and he was sure the glow in her expression was reflected in his own. She was beautiful. “Will I see you again, Miss Song?” he asked, standing and helping her to her feet.

“Oh, you better,” she said, her face breaking into a grin. At the same time, he noticed that the springs of her hair hadn’t even stretched from the weight of the water.  _ Remarkable.  _ She bent back over the fountain to retrieve the Doctor’s top hat, which was floating on the surface, and plopped it back on his head, pouring a fresh cupful of water onto him. “You know, you’re not even meant to wear a hat when you’re inside.”

The Doctor’s face flushed, but he quickly quipped, “We’re not inside now, are we?”

River smirked. “No, and we probably ought not to be, in this state.”

Together, they walked hand in hand, searching for some other place to sit that was safely away from any body of water. That is, until River took his arm and wrapped it around her waist instead, so she could rest her head on his shoulder as they strolled. The Doctor’s hand stroked comfortably up and down the curve of her waist, and the dampness was no bother to him at all. 

“I expect to see your house someday, you know,” River told him. “I’ve been looking at it from a distance for far too long.”

The Doctor chuckled. “Someday, River Song. If you’re good.”

He could hear the cheeky smile in her voice as she replied, “And where’s the fun in that?” Yes, this was exactly the woman for him.

The Doctor didn’t see Amy or Rory for the rest of the night, but that was okay. He knew they would make their way home at some point. For tonight, the only person that mattered was River, and he knew this was only the beginning of something grand.


End file.
